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The aim of this paper is to demystify some of the popular myths related to tropical soil fertility management that have gained hold in the development community and are often being promulgated by NGO's and development agencies in the tropics. Negative nutrient balances at farm scale or at larger scales are very often presented as proof that soil fertility is at stake in SSA. However, nutrient balances at plot and farm section scale are not always negative. In areas with large nutrient stocks, short-term nutrient mining is fully acceptable. Fertilizer use continues to face considerable controversy in SSA. In this paper, we demonstrate that fertilizers rarely damage the soil; that fertilizers are being used in SSA, often with favourable value-to-cost ratios; and that fertilizers do not cause eutrophication in SSA. Rock phosphates are abundantly present in SSA but most are poorly soluble. Adding these phosphates to compost …